Category Archives: Art

…or a visit with the work of the old masters. I tend, when viewing art at the National Gallery in DC, to spend a short time with the painting then take a picture of it and the title so that I can look it up again and spend more time with it when I get home. Like […]

…or A Day at the Mall. That’s the Washington Mall which is a long stretch of park extending from Capital Building to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. It contains many of the Smithsonian museums and is a great place for people watching. I made my way there while we were stopped in Falls Church, […]

This morning I watched an older couple head down the lane with their yoga mats under their arms. I too could be doing that, I thought to myself, going to the free yoga sessions on the beach on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But it would mean more shopping; a yoga mat, yoga pants, and an […]

….or Have You Had Enough of Christmas Yet? I usually have Christmas back in the box by Old Christmas Day or January 6th. Indeed, it didn’t take too long to wind up the set of lights and put the pine cones in a bag. The pineapple I decorated has long since been eaten and our […]

If you’re not into the bare bones of an archaeological dig, especially on a cold day, then you would probably find the Jamestown Settlement museum more to your liking. It is associated with a gallery of exhibits but the highlight is the living history area where you will find a Powhatan Indian Village, A […]

…or Jane of All Trades, Master of Some (or Mistress of Some as the case may be) I’ve lost track of how long I have been building my watercraft. Days, weeks. It’s coming along nicely and with the second coat of epoxy on the hull it would now float were I to launch prematurely. It […]

On we go to Boston in search of warm weather and spring. We left Maine on icy roads lined by arches of birch saplings bent over and frozen to the ground like they were recognizing and paying respect to our quest. Spring. I think not yet. We didn’t actually stay in Boston but in Waltham. […]

Have I mentioned before how long it takes me to get around to things these days? I finally got my winter studio up and running and it is what, March? I’ll just have things rolling along nicely and it will be time to move it all back out to the barn loft. Sigh. I have a […]

…or How to Stuff a Salmon. Last weekend my neighbour Gail and I went to check out the concrete sculptures at Cosby’s Garden Centre. In the winter they convert the greenhouse to a studio and offer concrete sculpture workshops and we checked that out too. I was pleased to find my friend Deb working diligently […]

….or call me Geppetto! In October I was lucky enough to get a space in two more Lee Valley seminars, this time on relief carving. It was well worth the time and money spent. Don’t get too excited about my first attempts; they are just that. Here are some pictures: I […]

What I’m Reading Now

The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje ♥♥♥♥
Half Broken Things by Morag Joss ♥♥♥½
Irreplaceable by Stephen Lovely ♥♥
The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter ♥♥♥½
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner ♥♥♥♥♥
The Devil You Know by Wayne Johnson ♥♥♥
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent ♥♥♥♥
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes ♥♥♥♥½
A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz ♥♥♥♥
Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim ♥♥♥½
No. 13 Washington Square by Leroy Scott ♥♥½
Christopher Carson by John SC Abbott♥♥♥♥
Lucien Freud, Eyes Wide Open by Phoebe Hoban ♥♥½
The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman ♥♥♥♥
An American Childhood by Annie Dillard ♥♥♥♥
Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King ♥♥♥♥
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver ♥♥♥
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (audio) ♥♥♥♥
Into the Deep Unknown - Land of the Tent Dwellers by Mike Parker♥♥♥ (great [pictures)
The Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell (audio)♥♥♥1/2
Back Fire by Catherine Coulter (audio book)♥♥♥
In the Mersey Woods published by the paper company
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (audio book)♥♥♥♥
The Kite Runner (audio book)♥♥♥♥♥
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver ♥♥♥1/2
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver ♥♥♥1/2
The Round House by Louise Erdrich ♥♥♥♥
Empire Falls by Richard Russo ♥♥♥
Dear Everbody by Anne Budgell ♥♥♥♥
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera ♥♥
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner ♥♥♥♥♥
Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi ♥♥♥♥♥